Kidney Punch

More on the PBRF’s new clothes

John Pickering • Dec 21, 2017

• citation metrics,
• economics,
• Health and Medicine,
• impact factors,
• PBRF,
• Science and Society

A few of weeks ago I outed the multi-million-dollar exercise that is the Quality Evaluation component of the performance based research fund (PBRF) as a futile exercise because there was no net gain in research dollars for the NZ academic community.  Having revealed the Emperor’s new clothes, I awaited the call from the Minister in … Read More

Cheesecake Files: The ICare-Acute Coronary Syndrome (heart attack) study

John Pickering • Nov 15, 2017

• Accelerate Diagnostic Protocol,
• Acute Coronary Syndrome,
• ADAPT,
• American Heart Association,
• Clinical Pathway,
• District Health Board,
• EDACS,
• Emergency Department,
• Health and Medicine,
• Heart Attack,
• Science and Society

Hundreds of nurses, Emergency Department doctors, Cardiologists and other specialists, laboratory staff, administrators and managers from every hospital in New Zealand with an emergency department have come together to implement new, effective, and safe pathways for patients who think they may be having a heart attack. Today, Dr Martin Than (CDHB, Emergency Department) presented to the American … Read More

Half a million Kiwis suddenly have high blood pressure

John Pickering • Nov 14, 2017

• blood pressure,
• cardilogy,
• Health and Medicine,
• heart,
• high blood pressure,
• Hypertension,
• Science and Society

At 10am 14 November 2017 NZST, millions of people around the world suddenly had high blood pressure. This will come as a shock to many and may precipitate a crisis in hand-wringing and other odd behaviours, like overmedication and jogging. The American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology have just announced a redefinition of High blood pressure. High blood pressure … Read More

Performance Based Research Fund: a net zero sum game

John Pickering • Oct 18, 2017

• PBRF,
• Performance Based Research Fund,
• research funding,
• Science and Society,
• Tertiary Education Commission

Throughout the land, more than 7000 academics are awake night after night and suffering.  They are scrambling to gather evidence of just how great they have performed over the last six years. A conscientious bunch, they perform this task with their usual attention to detail and desire to impress (I didn’t say they were modest!).  Ostensibly, this exercise is … Read More

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Artificial intelligence: Flourish with change

John Pickering • Oct 16, 2017

• AI,
• artificial intelligence,
• Busineses,
• change,
• education,
• jobs,
• politics,
• Science and Society,
• technology

Newshub decided to do an “AI” piece today. Expect much more of this kind of “filler” piece. They will go thus… “X says AI will take all our jobs, Y says AI will save us.” These pieces are about as well informed and informing as a lump of 4×2 – good for propping up a slow news day, … Read More

This is what happens when you talk to your mother about artificial intelligence

John Pickering • Oct 03, 2017

• artificial intelligence,
• poem,
• Robot

I have been chatting with my mother about the headlines around artificial intelligence and my own venture into the field. In this poem she has picked up beautifully, I think, on the idea is that any problems with AI will be because of our own inadequacies as we train the machines.  K.A. Pickering, October 2017   Artificial Intelligence  Artificial Intelligence … Read More

Christchurch meet the future; Zach meet Christchurch

John Pickering • Aug 23, 2017

• AI,
• artificial intelligence,
• Christchurch,
• Health and Medicine,
• Science and Society,
• technology,
• Terrible foundation,
• Zach

It would have struggled to be more low key.  There was no Champagne.  No flashy graphics.  No celebrity speakers.  But it was probably one of the most radical and important announcements made in Christchurch and in the technology space in decades.  You see, Zach is coming to town and we have all been invited. Zach is an A.I.  Zach belongs … Read More

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The wrong impact

John Pickering • Jun 27, 2017

• citation,
• impact,
• impact factor,
• journals,
• Nobel,
• PBRF,
• publishing,
• Science

“We just got a paper in an Impact Factor 10 journal … and hope to go higher soon.” That’s a statement made to me last week.  It is wrong on so many levels, but does it matter?   Nobel Prize winners think so. The video below from nobelprize.org appeared in my twitter feed on Friday. Before you watch … Read More

A vision of kiwi kidneys

John Pickering • May 05, 2017

• abstract,
• ANZDATA,
• Dialysis,
• End Stage Renal Disease,
• End stage renal failure,
• Health,
• Health and Medicine,
• kidney,
• New Zealand,
• Science and Society,
• Transplant,
• University of Otago Christchurch,
• Visual abstract

Sick of writing boring text reports?  Take a leaf out of Christchurch nephrologist Dr Suetonia Palmer’s (@SuetoniaPalmer) book and make a visual abstract report. Here are two she has created recently based on data collected about organ donation and end stage renal failure by ANZDATA (@ANZDATARegistry). Enjoy.     ps. The featured … Read More

An even quicker way to rule out heart attacks

John Pickering • Apr 18, 2017

• Blood,
• Christchurch Hospital,
• ecg,
• EKG,
• Emergency Department,
• Emergency Room,
• Health and Medicine,
• Heart Attack,
• metaanalysis,
• Myocardial Infarction,
• Science,
• troponin

The majority of New Zealand emergency departments look for heart muscle damage by taking a sample of blood and looking for a particular molecule called a high-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT).  We have now confirmed that rather than two measurements over several hours just one measurement on arrival in the ED could be used to rule out heart attacks in about 30% … Read More

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